SYNTH NEWS: UVI Updates Retro Organ Suite to v1.5. The new version adds the “Yammy C10,” a new combo organ based on a fully-restored and reinvigorated 1970 Yamaha machine, and new rotary speaker effect improvements from the latest generation of the UVI…

NEWS: EastWest Sounds Online announces Voices of the Empire, a cinematic and ethnic vocal tour de force, featuring the raw, primal vocals of Uyanga Bold. Produced by Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, Voices of the Empire is a must-have virtual instrument f…

TC Electronic announce TC2290-DT plugin based on their classic 2290 Digital Delay, with included USB-powered control surface. Adopted by producers, FOH engineers and musicians such as David Gilmour, The Edge and Robben Ford, it set the benchmark for de…

Spitfire Audio has announced its new Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds Expansion Pack that strengthens and enhances the core Symphonic Woodwinds library, Seminal Orchestral Woodwinds, with over 167GB of additional content. The post New Spitfire Symphonic Wo…

SYNTH NEWS: UVI today announced enhanced versions of its UVI Workstation instrument and class-leading FALCON virtual instrument. Both now allow for scaling of instrument interfaces (finally!). Falcon 1.5 adds a Frequency Shifter, as well as new Event m…

SYNTH NEWS: Best Service has announced a new sample library, “Celtic ERA” by Eduardo Tarilonte. According to the company, “Tarilonte once again takes you to a fascinating journey through time. This time, he travels far north to the roots of the Celtic …

SYNTH NEWS: Eventide has announced that its popular Blackhole reverb plug-in is now NKS-ready — reconfigured to support Native Instruments’ Native Kontrol Standard extended plug-in format for use with MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL keyboards and softwar…

SYNTH NEWS: Tracktion has announced their latest DAW release, Waveform 9 Music Production Software, which adds a Multi Sampler Instrument and Modular Mixing Tool. The expanded capabilities of the popular MIDI pattern generator include a global chord tr…

SYNTH NEWS: UVI has announced a new add-on for their flagship FALCON virtual instrument, sampler, workstation: Digital Motion explores FM synthesis from vintage digital to visionary hybrid tones. According to UVI, when utilized within the modular archi…

SYNTH NEWS: Spitfire Audio recently announced their new virtual instrument and scoring library ALTERNATIVE SOLO STRINGS — an “alternative take on a sampled solo strings library” putting performances of four of the most interesting and progressive strin…

SYNTH NEWS: IK Multimedia today announced that registered users of the Syntronik J-60 synth can download a free update from their User Area and enjoy 42 all-new instrument sounds and an additional 1.2GB of new oscillator samples. The J-60 is based on t…

SYNTH NEWS: Chadwick Wood over at iPad software developer Coffeeshopped recently announced that the latest update to the awesome PATCH BASE synth editor, now includes the somewhat rare FM synth, the FS1R from Yamaha. According to Chad, “Patch Base 2.10…

SYNTH NEWS: Native Instruments today announced release of “Expansions.” Based on the acclaimed MASCHINE Expansions series, these 50+ genre-based sound packs contain everything a musician needs to create a full track in a specific style. From preloaded …

SYNTH NEWS: Output Inc. has announced ANALOG BRASS & WINDS, “a virtual instrument for those who dare.” The new “Next Level Air” instrument “blurs the line between powerful orchestral sounds and legendary synths.” The company sampled an 18-piece br…

SYNTH NEWS: UVI has announced release of “Meteor,” a swell and impact designer for creating rich and immersive cinematic sound effects for film, games, music and more. Meteor includes a comprehensive library of exclusive sounds and recordings that can …

NAMM 2018: Native Instruments today announced availability of the first NKS-ready effects at the annual NAMM trade show in Anaheim, Calif.. As of Q2 2018, key effects manufacturers, including Waves, Softube, Eventide, and Sugar Bytes will adopt the Nat…

SYNTH NEWS: After many years of user requests (and whole forums filled with workarounds) Spectrasonics has released new Mac and Windows standalone applications of the company’s award-winning Keyscape, Omnisphere 2, Trilian and Stylus RMX virtual instru…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Today, Calif. Gov. Brown delivers his final State of the State speech to lawmakers and media. Brown appears before the Legislature for the 16th — and final — time to offer his thoughts on current affairs in C…

MUSIC NEWS: Music Expo Miami, the conference to inspire music makers, announced today its second Miami edition to be held March 24, 2018 at SAE Institute. Hosted in association with Sound On Sound Magazine, the all-day conference will feature productio…

MUSIC NEWS: Apple has announced a new update to its class-leading DAW for MacOS, LOGIC PRO X, to 10.4 with new virtual drummer profiles, smart tempo features and a host of new useful effects plug-ins for both tracking and mastering. Free for existing u…

SYNTH NEWS: UVI has announced SubCulture expansion pack for Falcon with 110 dark and hard-hitting patches made for producers of modern bass, post-EDM, DnB, garage and more. The second collaboration from sound designers Richard Gale and Carlo de Gregori…

MUSIC NEWS: It’s with great sadness that I learned today that an original member of one of my all time favorite bands, The Moody Blues, Ray Thomas, has passed away on Jan. 4, 2018 at his home in Surrey. His passing was confirmed today by his record lab…

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The staff here at California Newswire were sad to learn early this morning of the passing of S.F. Mayor Edwin “Ed” Mah Lee was the 43rd mayor of San Francisco and the first Asian American to lead the city….

SYNTH NEWS: It’s that time of the year again, when some outrageous deals on synths – both hardware and software – plugins, FX, and music tech spin up for both “Black Friday” and the Holidays. For 2017, I’ve collected some great ‘early bird’ buys on syn…

SYNTH NEWS: Spitfire Audio has announced their latest orchestral instrument library, ORCHESTRAL SWARM, the direct result of a creative collaboration with Bleeding Fingers, a next-generation composer collective who wanted to create a new Swarm library i…

For Toontrack’s annual “Metal Month” 2018, they have announced their first SDX for Superior Drummer 3, “The Rock Foundry” SDX by Bob Rock. According to the company, The Rock Foundry SDX features a staggering 65 GB of raw, unprocessed drum sounds record…

SYNTH NEWS: Applied Acoustics Systems (AAS) has announced PIVOTAL, a new soundbank (soundset) for its Ultra Analog VA-2 “virtual analog” synth, as well as free AAS Player. For this library, sound designer Daniel Stawczyk created a hefty 158-preset collection of focused and upfront sounds covering all the classic categories—arpeggios, basses, leads, synths, and effects are […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Today, millions of people worldwide will practice how to Drop, Cover, and Hold On at 10:19 a.m. on October 19, 2017 during Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills, which began in California in 2008. Participating is a great way for your family or organization to be prepared to survive and recover quickly […]

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia /California Newswire/ — On Wednesday, Calif. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today joined leaders from Japan, South Korea, Russia, China and more than a dozen other countries at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia where …

SYNTH NEWS: UVI today announced two new products; first a superb virtual synth instrument, OB Legacy, covering the classic sounds of Tom Oberheim’s synthesizers, as well as an updated and expanded edition of their flagship Vintage Vault instrument plug…

SYNTH DEALS: In a return to form, I’ve brought back my monthly round-up of great deals on synth gear, such as virtual synths, plug-ins, samples, iOS apps, and more. This list is updated all during August, until the next month when a new list is started…

Synth News: Wolfgang Palm, the “father of wavetable synthesizers,” has released his latest virtual synth, PPG “Infinite” for Apple iOS devices. To address limitations of past wavetable designs, the frequencies of the overtones created by Infinite can be totally freely defined. Now available. The post Surfing an ‘Infinite’ Wave, Wolfgang Palm unleashes PPG Infinite Synth […]

SYNTH NEWS: For #808DAY 2017, Roland Corp. unveiled a new iteration of its classic drum box – the TR-808 Rhythm Composer – called the TR-08 Rhythm Composer as part of its ongoing “Boutique Series” line-up. Additionally, a new analog synth recreation of…

Today, the Bob Moog Foundation announced its Summer 2017 Raffle for a vintage Memorymoog Plus Synthesizer. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit the non-profit Foundation’s educational and historic preservation initiatives. The vintage Memorymoog Plus synthesizer is described as a very unusual and powerful polyphonic synthesizer with six voices for each of the three oscillators, MIDI, […]

Beginning in early 2018, Roland Virtual Sonics will release a series of RAINLINK-enabled software products through Roland Cloud, featuring audio recordings made at Sony Pictures Post Production Services sound facilities in Culver City, Calif. These new RAINLINK products will be designed to assist audio professionals working in today’s mixed media industries. The post RAINLINK Virtual […]

INTERVIEW with Lara Grice: It was girl power all the way as the cast of “Girls Trip” hit the “pink” carpet at L.A. Live last Thursday night. The movie already, being called the movie of the summer, is a message of female friendship and support. An all-female leading cast is so rare in Hollywood these […]

Apple today announced and released an update to their Logic Pro X DAW (aka “Logic 10”) to version 10.3.2. Highlights include three new Drummers who play percussion in the styles of Pop, Songwriter, and Latin; and Alchemy now includes an automatic time …

SYNTH NEWS: Haken Audio has announced Continuum Fingerboard Version 8.50 is now available. The new software/firmware update for the Haken Continuum instrument adds many new System Presets and new EaganMatrix capabilities. The brilliant new External Not…

MUSIC GEAR: Spitfire Audio has announced a new virtual orchestra sound sample library that brings to life the classic and iconic vibe of composer Bernard Herrmann, known for “Psycho,” “Vertigo,” and many other classic films. This is Spitfire’s first dry scoring stage ensemble library and the company worked closely with the Herrmann estate to examine […]

MUSIC TECH: Softube recently announced the new 4ms SMR for Modular plugin, which “can process audio like a classic filter bank, ring like a marimba when plucked/struck, vocode, re-mix tracks, harmonize, output spectral data, quantize other oscillators to scales and much more. It’s deep, versatile and infinitely expands what is possible to achieve with Modular.” […]

INDUSTRY NEWS: Today ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and YouTube have signed a multi-year agreement, effective immediately, for U.S. public performance rights and data collaboration. According to the annoncement, “The …

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — In response to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued the following statement today: “Donald Trump has absolutely chosen the wrong course. He’s wrong on the facts. America’s economy is boosted by following the Paris Agreement. The news story Calif. […]

Native Instruments has unveiled THRILL, a new virtual sound design softare instrument that enables the introduction of “terrifying live scores to movies, games, sound installations, or theater productions.” THRILL was cooked up in the lab in collaboration with sound master Uli Baronowsky of Galaxy Instruments. The post Native Instruments’ New ‘THRILL’ Bites with Thrills and […]

G on Politics (OPINION): Research demonstrates that a conservative differs from a normal human being in a number of ways. Note: ‘Normal human being’ means someone with a soul and an I.Q. above 70. A conservative is a strange creature. As you can see by their actions in Congress and in state houses across the […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — In an open letter that ran as a full page ad in today’s Sacramento Bee, elected leaders from six of California’s eight largest cities called on California Governor Jerry Brown and the State Legislature to inc…

RIVERSIDE, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Pacific Sunbelt Mortgage, a division of Finance of America Mortgage, announced today the findings from its Q4 2016 customer satisfaction surveys. Pacific Sunbelt Mortgage is a long-time lender within the home …

G on Politics (OPINION): Excessively coddled and carefully coifed, Ivanka Trump is not the ‘orange whisperer’ who will guide our fascist madman president away from errors. As Ivanka Trump plods robotically through her embarrassing public appearances, it is obvious that she is laboring under a ton of cosmetics and probably a Quaalude or two. The […]

G on Politics (OPINION): Betsy DeVos has a deep and profound love of fairytales and she plans to slather that love all over the children of America. You often hear the phrase “conservative values” but what does that phrase mean? It is similar to phrases like “square circle” and “dry water” in that it is […]

G on Politics (OPINION): When the conservative geniuses in the Trump misadministration released a one-page ‘tax plan,’ a cheer was heard from everyone whose job requires them to come up with detailed plans for things. A single page for the country’s tax plan? One page? Seriously, only one page?!?! Wow, I didn’t know you could […]

G on Politics (OPINION): As America suffers the shame of an illegitimate president elected by racists, morons, greedwhores, and Russian agents, one ray of hope is that the USA is being managed by that revered political genius, Jared Corey Kushner. The news story Opinion: Is Jared the Leader of the Free World? appeared on and […]

G on Politics (OPINION): Presenting the revelations of a salacious, stunning, and completely fictitious investigation into the personal habits of conservatives in the Senate and the House. Data never dies. No matter what information appears in print, email, text message, audio, or video, there is a record of it somewhere. The news story Opinion: Shocking […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The Hemophilia Foundation of Northern California (HFNC) will participate in World Federation of Hemophilia’s (WFH) “Lighting It Up Red!” campaign in recognition of World Hemophilia Day, on April 17, at 7:30 p.m. on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. The news story World Hemophilia Day 2017: San Francisco […]

INTERVIEW: It’s the small town feel good movie that is sweeping through film festivals and gathering no dust as it piles up the awards. “Last Call at Murray’s” is a story of strength and determination or as leading lady, Eileen Grubba describes it, “I think this movie is an excellent character study, a chance for […]

G on Politics (OPINION/SATIRE): This bedtime story is a fable about the rise and fall of a modern-day tyrant named Ronald Dumpt. Once upon a time there was a country that tried an experiment called democracy. The country was called Usa (pronounced “OOsah”) and it had a population of 320,000,000. The news story Opinion: Enemy […]

G on Politics (OPINION): Let us now turn our gaze to the man whose job brings him closest to a heart attack every day, the White House Secretary of Prevarication, Sean McSpice. Amidst all of the conservative attempts to destroy American values is the daily equivocation dance performed by shifty-eyed White House Press Secretary Sean […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — With the announcement that the United States will begin to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today issued the following statement reaffirming their ongoing commitment to exceed the targets of the Clean Power Plan and curb carbon pollution. […]

G on Politics (OPINION): In which we examine the odious delusions, bigotry, and anti-American schemes of conservatards. Conservatives are apparently rotten to the marrow of their bones. How else to account for the hordes of uneducated, unwashed, unthinking goobers who flock to the Klan rallies held by Dummy Donny and his Rethuglican Party? The news […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Led by students and parents, Calif. Assembly Democrats, including Speaker Anthony Rendon (D – Paramount) and members of the Assembly Budget and Higher Education Committees today announced a bold higher education budget package designed to reduce student debt and make college affordability a reality for the nearly 2.8 million undergraduate […]

G on Politics (Opinion/Satire): Inside a Mexican restaurant in one of the touristy parts of Los Angeles, our intrepid writer converses with the moral chaperone of Donald J. Trump. I sat down for an interview with the conscience of Donald J. Trump, our nation’s first illegitimate president. The news story Opinion: Interviewing Trump’s Conscience appeared […]

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Consumer Advocates for RCFE Reform (CARR) announced today that it is the recipient of a $30,000 grant funded by the Del Mar Healthcare Fund, through the Age Friendly Communities Program at the San Diego Foundation. The grant will move San Diego towards becoming an Age Friendly/Livable Community for All […]

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Friends of the LA River (FOLAR) is proud to announce the 28th Annual Great Los Angeles River CleanUp: La Gran Limpieza (CleanUp). FOLAR’s annual CleanUp has exploded in recent years, shattering records for volunteer turnout and trash collected, and is the largest urban river cleanup in America. The news […]

LIFESTYLE: At what point are you Old? Is it 50, 60, or maybe 90? And who decides that you are Old? Society, your children, your Doctor or yourself? And what kind of old are we talking about? Body age? Emotional age? Brain age? Generational age? Experiential age? Is it age or maturity? The news story […]

G on Politics (OPINION): Congratulations to Donald Trump, with an assist from Steve Bannon, for entering the Top 5 in the Conservatism Hall of Fame (which sane people know as the Conservatism Hall of Shame). There have been a great many moments in rightwing douchebaggery and here, listed in chronological order, are the current top […]

INTERVIEW: What do maggots, tomato plants, and oral cancer all have in common? They have all been found inside someone’s mouth. As a dentist in practice for over 30 years, Dr. Gary Glassman (“Dr. G”) thought he had seen it all. “I have removed maggots from a child’s gums and a tomato plant that was […]

INTERVIEW: You may think Hollywood is a man’s world but after an exclusive interview with Lisa Ann Walter star of indie film “Dependent’s Day,” think again – times are changing. “Looking back into history there were strong female characters back in the 1940’s, and I think that reflects what was happening at the time.,” says […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — This past week, Calif. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. welcomed the states of Aguascalientes, Mexico and Victoria, Australia to the Under2 Coalition – the global pact among cities, states and countries to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius, the level of potentially catastrophic consequences. […]

G on Politics (OPINION/SATIRE): Police issued a warning yesterday about a mentally-impaired man running amok on the White House grounds. In addition to posing a danger to himself, there are reports that he may be armed with remote-controlled nuclear devices. The news story Opinion: Delusional Man Loose in White House appeared on and is Copr. […]

POLITICS: California Federation of Teachers (CFT) opposes 2017 SCOTUS Nominee. President Trump’s announcement of his Supreme Court nominee doubles down on the approach he has taken with his other selections, says CFT. Federal Appeals Court Judge Neil Gorsuch is a conservative disciple of the late Judge Scalia and a proponent of the Supreme Court as […]

INTERVIEW: “Love yourself no matter what shape or size you are,” says “Walking Dead” actress Ann Mahoney. As a somewhat normal person, the pressure is on daily to look younger, thinner, the list is endless! A TV agent used the ‘B’ word recently Botox! However, it makes me feel a little better to know that […]

G on Politics (OPINION/SATIRE): And now, a parody of a recent screed in the New York Times that was scribbled out by a right-wing nut-job douchebag named David Brooks. This is a column directed at high school and college students. I’m going to try to convey to you how astoundingly similar the Republican Party felt […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — On Tuesday, Calif. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. delivered his State of the State address for 2017, departing with the traditional practice of listing every issue and restating every priority to focus on the “broader context of our country and its challenges.” The news story Calif. Gov. Brown Puts the […]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Members of the Calif. Assembly Democratic Caucus today issued a letter and video addressed to all Californians, pledging to continue California’s history of leading the nation in producing policy that benefits all people. The news story California Assembly Democrats Issue #DearCalifornians Inauguration Day Letter appeared on California Newswire® – California […]

G on Politics (OPINION): Conservatives are performing verbal somersaults as they desperately try to explain and condone the reckless rhetoric of Donald Trump. One conclusion: Republicans love Big Brother. The news story Opinion: Trump Team Trumps the Truth appeared on California Newswire® – California Newswire.

G on Politics (OPINION): Trump’s cabinet choices include a bigot for attorney general but the foulness doesn’t stop there. Mr. Bulging Neck’s entire list of right-wing nut-jobs is scary and aromatic. Truly, the Clones of Dr. Trumpenstein are invading the U.S. government. The news story Opinion: Trump’s Cabinet of Deplorables appeared on California Newswire® – […]